I did this (making copies of student work onto overheads, class critiques aloud...) with my lower level class so that we could discuss what good editing and revising was. I think you could do that to model what a good summary included - and left out! In fact, I recall writing a short really bad summary (ok, I'd exaggerate it for the effect) and a decent little summary to model what should be included, and then have them tell me which was good and not so good.
I went to a workshop on getting all kids involved, and it suggested that rather than having kids raise their hands and tell it, have them write down two sentences for each model, and sometimes collect them. Then go through and read those comments aloud anonymously, praising them all for different reasons - it has to be genuine praise, but you can usually find something real to praise in every real attempt. Low level boys, in particular, have learned not to take the risk of volunteering. Their peers will mock them if they're right OR wrong. It's a no win scenario for them. But if their contributions are praised when their comments are anonymous, they get to feeling pretty good and eventually they want to take the chance. That's often the case when I copy their essays and put them up anonymously, and people praise them, and want to know who wrote them. I say I promised not to tell, but in the room I can see them puff up a little. On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:49 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, I have also had students read their essays out loud to the class and > have their peers comment on the positives with suggestions or questions. In > my Honors Class this works well and I enjoy them. As they read them out > loud, I can jot down notes about the essay so that when they do turn it in I > have, more or less,an idea of how they did. I do vow to try this with my > basic classes. However, with my far below kids, just getting them to write > a good summary is arduous for them and for me. > > > ---- Amy Lesemann <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi - just teaching a writing class for 15 kids, and hand writing > extensive > > comments for them continually about did in my hand! But I can hearken > back > > to the days of 120 kids. > > > > But I don't think making them wait 3 wks for their comments is the answer > - > > I don't mean to offend hard working people, either. I do understand how > hard > > everyone is working. I think more peer commenting/editing is one answer. > > Another is to take an essay, and WITH THEIR PERMISSION, put it on an > > overhead, and model commenting on it. It has to be a fairly competent > paper, > > and a fairly confident kid (sometimes I took one from a different class) > and > > you have to model sandwiching comments. So, positive-negative - > > positive...boom, you're done. Then they made some positive comments as > well > > - what they liked about the essay. > > > > Kids do love reading each other's work, and in my rough and tough class, > you > > could hear a pin drop when I put an essay on the overhead - I had to > > establish rules - no dissing the work, no "I bet so and so wrote this", > and > > of course they tried to break the rules! But it helped them understand > how > > to critique the work, and what was a positive and useful comment, and > what > > was a negative and useful comment. It got to be more fun...we also used > > post-it notes or scrap paper cut up for our comments - somehow, it was > less > > painful to see the comments on other paper than when it was written > directly > > on our work! > > > > Hope this helps...rubrics, too, are very useful as long as you give them > out > > before the work is due and explain them, so they know how the work will > be > > assessed - the language has to be user friendly or they're useless, and > > you'll still end up writing a ton of comments! > > > > There is a free online rubric maker if you need one, in which you can > > install your own standards. Very cool. Amy in Ann Arbor > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Amy Lesemann, Reading Specialist and Independent Learning Center Teacher, > > St. Thomas the Apostle School > > _______________________________________________ > > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > > -- Amy Lesemann, Reading Specialist and Independent Learning Center Teacher, St. Thomas the Apostle School _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
